(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) audio layer-3 (MP3) player. More specifically, the present invention relates to a MP3 car player equipped with a compact disk (CD) player in which interruptions in the playing of CDs caused by bumpy road conditions, etc. are prevented, and which is able to compress and decompress digital audio data at high compression rates without loss of sound quality.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Conventional car CD players use a memory in order to prevent discontinuous sound playing. However, the small capacity of the memory is such that these interruptions can not be completely prevented. Also, since the CD player only plays audio CDs, the CD player cannot process data on the CD Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) which holds far greater compression rates.
In most cases, the MP3 player is used together with a personal computer (PC) which performs downloading and decoding of audio data before uploading into the player. Since the PC utilizes software to perform these functions, the MP3 player is ultimately dependent on the performance of the PC, thereby making real-time implementation difficult unless the user owns a top-of-the-line PC. Such use together with a PC also limits portability. Further, even if the MP3 player is equipped allowing full portability (i.e., to internally perform downloading and decoding), high power consumption is a serious drawback that results in a reduced amount of time the user can use the MP3 player on battery power.